13 Eerie (2013): The Good, the Bad and Recycled Zombies
Synopsis: Six forensic science students go to an abandoned prison facility for field work. Little do they know that the facility was used to test hazardous chemicals on the death row inmates.
The Good: It's always best when you don't expect much from a movie. I've had this one in my collection for a while, but always passed it by because nothing really stuck out about it. The concept didn't seem all that appealing, none of the actors or actresses are well known (which isn't a big deal in horror), cover art was pretty "meh"... I just felt like the movie was going to let me down. Having finally watched it, I'll say that I was moderately impressed. Now don't get me wrong, I rated it a 4 of 10, so that has more to do with lowered expectations than anything else, but still, there were some things to like about this movie. Aside from one or two actors, I thought this was a bright spot for the movie. Typically, you have to suffer through the acting and focus on plot and gore, but this group did a nice job with the dialogue given. Speaking of gore, the effects crew on this movie did a pretty darn good job. The budget was $3MM CAD, which is higher than I expected, but I still felt there was the appropriate amount of gore for a zombie film and it was well done. None of that cheesy CGI gore either. Good old fashioned practical effects and there wasn't any skimping on the kill shots. This is a very watchable film, it just suffers from not being much different from a million others. Which takes us to the bad....
The Bad: While it wasn't really boring or a waste of time, there really wasn't anything to set it apart from other same-genre comparisons. We've seen it before and we've seen it done better. Even though toxic waste is the catalyst to the carnage, this is simply another zombie movie. Are there subtle differences? Sure. But at it's core, it's just another addition to the mind-numbing obsession with the zombie genre as of late. Honestly, it's hard to find any good zombie movies anymore because they are being churned out faster than we can digest them and the cookie-cutter mold is getting super stale. Maybe that's why I wasn't as hard on this film as I could be, because it was certainly watchable, low-budget horror. Those things are almost mutually exclusive in this day and age. Still, I am almost inclined to say "Nothing to see here, people. Move along."
The Recycled Zombies: One of my pet peeves is recycling something in a movie because of cheapness. It is just so distracting. I get that you only have so much money and sometimes you have to make due. On this movie, I was able to look past the set location, which is quite minimal and all within a very condensed location. It all kind of looks the same. They are either in the bus, in the woods or in one of a few shacks that all look the same. I can look past that. What was very hard to look past is the fact that I think they were recycling the zombies. I'm sure it was tough to get all the make-up effects looking great... and they did look pretty great, but when one of them dies, the next one that comes around looks strangely familiar. Maybe the ripped prison garb is slightly ripped in a different spot or the zombie is shirtless this time or whatever, but by the time they show up for the sixth or seventh time, you start to get wise to the charade. I feel cheapened as a viewer. Like, "Did you really think I wasn't going to notice that this is the same zombie that you just killed ten minutes ago?" There's not a worse crime as a director than taking your audience for a bunch of blind morons. I suppose there is a chance that I AM a blind moron and the zombies were just really similar, but I think I'll listen to my gut on this one.
Synopsis: Six forensic science students go to an abandoned prison facility for field work. Little do they know that the facility was used to test hazardous chemicals on the death row inmates.
The Good: It's always best when you don't expect much from a movie. I've had this one in my collection for a while, but always passed it by because nothing really stuck out about it. The concept didn't seem all that appealing, none of the actors or actresses are well known (which isn't a big deal in horror), cover art was pretty "meh"... I just felt like the movie was going to let me down. Having finally watched it, I'll say that I was moderately impressed. Now don't get me wrong, I rated it a 4 of 10, so that has more to do with lowered expectations than anything else, but still, there were some things to like about this movie. Aside from one or two actors, I thought this was a bright spot for the movie. Typically, you have to suffer through the acting and focus on plot and gore, but this group did a nice job with the dialogue given. Speaking of gore, the effects crew on this movie did a pretty darn good job. The budget was $3MM CAD, which is higher than I expected, but I still felt there was the appropriate amount of gore for a zombie film and it was well done. None of that cheesy CGI gore either. Good old fashioned practical effects and there wasn't any skimping on the kill shots. This is a very watchable film, it just suffers from not being much different from a million others. Which takes us to the bad....
The Bad: While it wasn't really boring or a waste of time, there really wasn't anything to set it apart from other same-genre comparisons. We've seen it before and we've seen it done better. Even though toxic waste is the catalyst to the carnage, this is simply another zombie movie. Are there subtle differences? Sure. But at it's core, it's just another addition to the mind-numbing obsession with the zombie genre as of late. Honestly, it's hard to find any good zombie movies anymore because they are being churned out faster than we can digest them and the cookie-cutter mold is getting super stale. Maybe that's why I wasn't as hard on this film as I could be, because it was certainly watchable, low-budget horror. Those things are almost mutually exclusive in this day and age. Still, I am almost inclined to say "Nothing to see here, people. Move along."
The Recycled Zombies: One of my pet peeves is recycling something in a movie because of cheapness. It is just so distracting. I get that you only have so much money and sometimes you have to make due. On this movie, I was able to look past the set location, which is quite minimal and all within a very condensed location. It all kind of looks the same. They are either in the bus, in the woods or in one of a few shacks that all look the same. I can look past that. What was very hard to look past is the fact that I think they were recycling the zombies. I'm sure it was tough to get all the make-up effects looking great... and they did look pretty great, but when one of them dies, the next one that comes around looks strangely familiar. Maybe the ripped prison garb is slightly ripped in a different spot or the zombie is shirtless this time or whatever, but by the time they show up for the sixth or seventh time, you start to get wise to the charade. I feel cheapened as a viewer. Like, "Did you really think I wasn't going to notice that this is the same zombie that you just killed ten minutes ago?" There's not a worse crime as a director than taking your audience for a bunch of blind morons. I suppose there is a chance that I AM a blind moron and the zombies were just really similar, but I think I'll listen to my gut on this one.